Editors’ choice - A solution to Nature's haemoglobin knockout: a plasma-accessible carbonic anhydrase catalyses CO₂ excretion in Antarctic icefish gills

Most animals carry carbonic anhydrase in their cells to dispose of waste carbon dioxide in the blood, but how do Antarctic icefish that have lost their red blood cells get around the problem? Colin Brauner and team demonstrate that they have relocated the key enzyme to their gills.

Commentary - Genetic accommodation and the role of ancestral plasticity in the evolution of insect eusociality

Social insects are excellent models for studying phenotypic plasticity. Beryl Jones and Gene Robinson review issues associated with understanding the genetics of plasticity-first evolution and outline an empirical approach to help advance this field.

Featured article – Using a shell as a wing: pairing of dissimilar appendages in atlantiid heteropod swimming

Most animals flap with a pair of wings, but not Atlanta selvagensis planktonic snails. According to David Murphy and colleagues they flap with one wing and their shell.

If you’re going to the SICB annual meeting in Tampa from 3 to 7 January, call by Booth #313 to chat to JEB Reviews Editor Charlotte Rutledge and pick up the new JEB T shirt and 2019 calendar, and other JEB goodies!

Did you know The Company of Biologists invites applications from the organisers of a range of charitable activities, including meetings, workshops and conferences, in the fields covered by our journals? The next deadline for grant applications is 4 January.

Rasmus Ern highlights a recent preprint from Takuya Sato and colleagues that investigates the effects of predation pressure and resource abundance on foraging behaviour of fish in social dominance hierarchies.